Live review: The Smile, The Usher Hall
EML has teamed up with Forever Edinburgh, the body which promotes Edinburgh to the world, to help tell the story of the city’s music scene to new audiences. As part of this collaboration, Forever Edinburgh appointed a music reviewer, Stuart Niven, to create a series of gig reviews during 2022. These reviews by Stuart, a local music fan with a passion for writing, are being shared on the Forever Edinburgh website and social media channels, which are seen by millions of people each year - and also on EML.
It is more than 100 years since the Usher Hall first opened its doors to musicians and audiences alike. Yet Edinburgh’s grand 5-star concert hall shows no signs of slowing down as it continues to showcase top talent from across the music spectrum.
Case in point this sold-out show by The Smile, with Edinburgh chosen alongside London and Manchester as one of only three UK dates of the band’s European tour.
The band, consisting of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, arrive on stage as the voice of Cillian Murphy - of Peaky Blinders fame - recites William Blake’s poem ‘The Smile’.
The applause for the band grows as the tones of Murphy’s voice fade with Yorke happy to take a moment and absorb the welcome, offering an acknowledging smile before opening the set with ‘The Same’ - the first track from the album ‘A Light for Attracting Attention’.
The title of the opening track offers some insight into the overall feel of the gig and the evening. While ‘The Smile’ is one of several Radiohead-connected side projects, the material is far enough removed from the band’s extensive back catalogue to stand proudly on its own, but offers just enough familiarity to draw in even the most ardent fan. Skinner’s prowess on the drums is reason enough alone to explore the material from the three-piece.
The setlist largely follows the running order of the album with Robert Stillman - who had provided the support for the evening - joining the band on-stage to add an excellent trumpet accompaniment to the popular ‘You Will Never Work in Television Again’.
Yorke and Greenwood interchange between guitars and piano throughout the set but it is ‘Open the Floodgates’ with Yorke sat at the piano and offering his distinctive voice to the vocals where the acoustics of the Usher Hall compliment the act best.
With the set well into full swing, Yorke breaks off to inform the crowd of the band’s realisation that touring an album of around fifty minutes running time would probably require them to write some new material as they then lead into ‘Bodies Laughing’.
The encore sees further new material in ‘Friend of a Friend’ introduced before finishing with ‘Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses’ from Yorke’s solo material.